So I started to interview with some bloggers in order to provide some inspirations to my visitors, specially to the one who are new at blogging. This week, I decided to interview Alan Tay, who is founder and part time blogger at Itscolumn. He is a blogger from Malaysia blogging since 2006.
ItsColumn is a Pr2 Blog with Global Website Rank 187,405(according to Alexa).
Your Name:????
My name is Alan Tay and my full name is Tay Hun Loon which I personally think anyone who reads my full name will forget me the next minute. So, just call me Alan will do.
Age:???
Fortunately, I'm a guy and so my age is nothing private. I'm 26 this year.
Started Blogging Since:???
I started blogging since 2006 but that was like for fun where I start my personal blog. As for my semi-professional blogging career, I started since March 2011 from IT Security Column.
First Domain You ever purchased:???
First domain I ever purchased was www.itscolumn.com which I had regretted for such poorly named domain name until today.
First Time You published a blog:???
First published blog is on 7 December 2006 which is my personal blog. I still don't really know what blogging was at that time.
First Blog you ever made was in blogger or WP or anyother:???
I started my blog even for IT Security Column on Blogger. I then think that I need a domain name, so I bought one. After that, I think I need to have a better control over the source and I migrated to own hosting on Wordpress.
With what intention you blogged for the first time:???
I have the intention to make money on the internet to be honest. I had been following Yaro Starak and Darren Rowse blogs on how they make money from blogging. Based on their successful story, I plan to make my own successful story by starting my own blog to help people in security and to make money at the same time.
First Income you ever got from a blog:???
The first income which I really received in a transaction form is from direct advertising. My other income streams are still in pending status where I am still waiting to reach the threshold for them to release payment to me.
Anyone Who Inspired you:???
Well, it is Yaro Starak and Darren Rowse as mentioned.
Are you part time or Full time blogger:???
I'm a part time blogger. My fulltime job is a software engineer which specialized in security as well.
Blogs you Own:???
I owned IT Security Column (itscolumn.com) and my personal blog (alanthl.blogspot.com) which I did not maintain anymore.
Blogs that you keep updates of:???
IT Security Column is the blog that I keep updating.
Your Avarage Monthly Income:???
I earned around $30-$40 a month. It fluctuates where sometimes I have affiliate sales and sometimes I don't.
Any big mistake you'd ever made in your Blogging Career that you think our visitor must not:???
1. If you want to start a blogging business/career, don't start on blogspot or any third party blogging platform. Get your own hosting and domain name.
2. Don't think of make money first. I started that badly and after I begin to change my direction to help people first then only making money, I started making money after that.
One Tip that you think would be helpful for our visitor to enhance their blogging career:???
1. Never give up. First 6 months of blogging can be tough as there are no incomes and probably even low visitors where you might be writing and only own self reading it. Blogging career takes time and I give myself 6 months of probation before giving up. I am glad I did not give up 3 months after I started.
2. Don't listen to people's successful stories too much. Some people can boost to 1000 traffic a day in just one month and some can take years to do it. Not everyone is born talented and if you think you are not talented, then work hard. The road to success is never easy and don't let people's successful stories to demoralize you.
So many Thanks to Alan for Giving his time to Answer these questions and sharing his experience.
ItsColumn is a Pr2 Blog with Global Website Rank 187,405(according to Alexa).
Your Name:????
My name is Alan Tay and my full name is Tay Hun Loon which I personally think anyone who reads my full name will forget me the next minute. So, just call me Alan will do.
Age:???
Fortunately, I'm a guy and so my age is nothing private. I'm 26 this year.
Started Blogging Since:???
I started blogging since 2006 but that was like for fun where I start my personal blog. As for my semi-professional blogging career, I started since March 2011 from IT Security Column.
First Domain You ever purchased:???
First domain I ever purchased was www.itscolumn.com which I had regretted for such poorly named domain name until today.
First Time You published a blog:???
First published blog is on 7 December 2006 which is my personal blog. I still don't really know what blogging was at that time.
First Blog you ever made was in blogger or WP or anyother:???
I started my blog even for IT Security Column on Blogger. I then think that I need a domain name, so I bought one. After that, I think I need to have a better control over the source and I migrated to own hosting on Wordpress.
With what intention you blogged for the first time:???
I have the intention to make money on the internet to be honest. I had been following Yaro Starak and Darren Rowse blogs on how they make money from blogging. Based on their successful story, I plan to make my own successful story by starting my own blog to help people in security and to make money at the same time.
First Income you ever got from a blog:???
The first income which I really received in a transaction form is from direct advertising. My other income streams are still in pending status where I am still waiting to reach the threshold for them to release payment to me.
Anyone Who Inspired you:???
Well, it is Yaro Starak and Darren Rowse as mentioned.
Are you part time or Full time blogger:???
I'm a part time blogger. My fulltime job is a software engineer which specialized in security as well.
Blogs you Own:???
I owned IT Security Column (itscolumn.com) and my personal blog (alanthl.blogspot.com) which I did not maintain anymore.
Blogs that you keep updates of:???
IT Security Column is the blog that I keep updating.
Your Avarage Monthly Income:???
I earned around $30-$40 a month. It fluctuates where sometimes I have affiliate sales and sometimes I don't.
Any big mistake you'd ever made in your Blogging Career that you think our visitor must not:???
1. If you want to start a blogging business/career, don't start on blogspot or any third party blogging platform. Get your own hosting and domain name.
2. Don't think of make money first. I started that badly and after I begin to change my direction to help people first then only making money, I started making money after that.
One Tip that you think would be helpful for our visitor to enhance their blogging career:???
1. Never give up. First 6 months of blogging can be tough as there are no incomes and probably even low visitors where you might be writing and only own self reading it. Blogging career takes time and I give myself 6 months of probation before giving up. I am glad I did not give up 3 months after I started.
2. Don't listen to people's successful stories too much. Some people can boost to 1000 traffic a day in just one month and some can take years to do it. Not everyone is born talented and if you think you are not talented, then work hard. The road to success is never easy and don't let people's successful stories to demoralize you.
So many Thanks to Alan for Giving his time to Answer these questions and sharing his experience.
3 comments:
Nice Idea to interview bloggers. This motives both the new one and featured one as well.
I really enjoyed this interview. Especially two last questions and answers (mistakes/tips) were helpful.
A very inspiring story and interview. This is a must read for all bloggers. Thanks for sharing
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